This is good news.  University of Georgia is finishing its third year of a grant from The Department of Agriculture to help fight colony collapse disorder among honeybee hives, to find out why our feral bee population is close to extinction, and what we can do to breed bees that aren’t harmed by viruses, mites, and new pesticides.

Managed Pollinator CAP Web-Page: www.beeccdcap.uga.edu

Awareness of the decline of honey bees and other pollinators took a dramatic upturn after two recent events: the October 2006 release of the National Research Council report “Status of Pollinators inNorth America” followed by high death rates of bee colonies in the winters of 2006-2008, a phenomenon now called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). All at once, managed pollinators were popularly recognized for what they always were: essential members of American agro-ecosystems.

The problems with managed pollinators cannot be relegated to one or few causative agents. Bee declines are likely a product of negatively interacting factors in pathology, immunology, nutrition, toxicology, genetics, ecosystems management, and bee husbandry. In response, we have assembled a nationally-coordinated team of experts with proven capacity in extension, genomics, pathology, toxicology, management, pollination, and bee behavior. Our long-term goal is to restore large and diverse populations of managed bee pollinators across theUnited Statesto sustain natural and agricultural plant communities.

Dr. Keith S. Delaplane
University of Georgia
Department of Entomology

More information about the Managed Pollinator CAP can be found at their web-page: www.beeccdcap.uga.edu